Day 10 - Matsumoto and the Black Castle

Early morning with another Shinkansen ride.  This time it was off to one of the most anticipated stops, Matsumoto. I went all in with this one, booking a traditional ryokan hotel with onsen and Japanese-style room just a few blocks from the castle. What castle you might ask? Well, 2 visits, both with Hime-ji "the white heron castle" visited both times. One of Japan's few remaining original structure castles, what you see on any postcard of "traditional" Japan and we got the treat of seeing it right before and right after restoration. But we had seen enough of the "white castle", this trip was all about the "black castle" and boy was I waiting to see how it would compare. 

Shinkansen rides are always a time for catching up and getting things back into order for me. Now packed with a bag of snacks (literally), another quick breakfast and a charged laptop, that's where a lot of my "work" such as updating social media, organizing pictures and even drafting these entries happened and this was no exception. Two hours straight on the shinkansen to Nagoya Station and then a local rapid straight to Matsumoto would be the only trains we would need to see today, Matsumoto is very centrally laid out around the castle (look up a map of the city sometime, it's very interesting), so just walking, biking or small taxi rides/car rides is all it takes to commute pretty easily. Having our heavy backpacks with us and seeing the walk was well over twenty minutes from the station and a taxi stand right in front of us, it was a no brainer to just have one take us over to our accommodations at Matsumoto Hotel Kagetsu.

We quickly drop our bags off at the hotel, being surprised by the first native English speaker on this journey made that process much smoother than it could have been. I then wanted to head over to a café I heard about years ago called "Storyhouse Café" located on Nawate (Frog) Street, run by a sweet couple where the husband was from Canada and the wife a local. They host local Jazz bands, run it completely bilingual and serve a mix of drinks and casual food. Again, refreshing to be able to speak simple English for a few minutes and have a short conversation with the owner before being on our way. The food was simple and nothing to really write home about, but getting a Matcha latte with Almond milk and a small burger was enough to satisfy me. The atmosphere was also very laid back, a vibe I was getting from the entire town.

After lunch, it was on to the main attraction, Matsumoto Castle! We were hopeful there would be some English language tour service as we had seen with Hime-ji and were not disappointed with the stand immediatley in front of the entrance stating "free English tours here". Yay! We were paired up with a nice Japanese ladies probably in her 50's that spoke English fairly well and was versed in the history of both the castle and area. She seemed surprised that a family of 3 to include an 11-year old were more interested in the authentic history of the castle and area rather than more shallow things, I suppose? I'm not sure what her normal tourists ask about, but it seemed we were a bit more versed and unusual. We learned about the history of the castle being built in the 1600's, the families that had occupied it, how the grounds had gone from private to publicly owned and a little bit on the castle structure itself and how the second smaller building was newer and constructed to host special elite guests of the time overnight to boost the status of Matsumoto. The grounds and castle were smaller than Hime-ji, but so impeccably kept and much quieter than what we were expecting for such a nice Sunday afternoon (busy, but no overly so). Unlike Hime-ji, the tour only lasted until we got in line to enter the castle itself, but provided more than enough information for us to then tour inside on our own and finish walking the grounds where they had a small shop and snack area set up. Before departing, our tour guide also gave us the tip to come back in the evening as the area is lit up and stays open instead of the normal "dawn to dusk" hours we've encountered elsewhere, a very good tip indeed. The inside of the structure was indeed original, with the signature narrow stairs and wood quarters. They also boasted a very large gun collection precured from a local man after he passed away and his family donated them, which was unusual to see. I believe we were here for about two hours in all, but it was a great time and not to be missed if you find yourself in Nagoya at all. I've also been told that in winter, instead of simple lights (I'll talk about that later here), they do full illuminations.

Matsumoto was quickly shaping up to be my favorite stop. We grabbed a few items at the shop, a souvenir coin and snack before heading back over to Nawate Street for further shopping and perusing. We now had to stay active until evening to come back for the night time view! The walk between the hotel, castle, Nawate Street and surrounding areas was on the back alley's and streets that reminded me the most so far of Kyoto with the traditional feel. This particular Sunday we were able to catch a small flea market setup with some local handicrafts (we bought a wooden cat spoon for 1,000Y) and snacks. This particular snack was a giant cotton  

candy for a mere 600Y, with no waiting might I add. These sort of things are about 1,200Y in Osaka and Tokyo with waiting and likely just a boring rainbow instead of a bear! We then walked the street slowly and ducked into a few shops after our "snacks" (we also got shaved ice I didn't take a picture of). So many little frog items, as one should expect! While eating at one of the benches facing the canal just off the road, we spotted some bunnies. Not know exactly what was "native" to this part of Japan I had no clue if they were wild or what. There were several places you could walk down stairs and get closer to the canal, so Terra headed down to get a better look. Turned out an

older gentleman had about 5 "pet bunnies" just hopping around down there, looked like he was with a slightly younger lady and spoke just enough English to understand she wanted to pet/feed/take pictures with them, gave her a few carrots to do just that. They had cute little bows and ice packs to also cool down on (even though it must have only been 70F outside at this time). It was so cute and unexpected, another charm of Matsumoto. Having done some shopping and eating, and knowing we still needed to do laundry again, it was time to head back to the hotel for a few hours before waiting for nightfall, dinner and an illuminated castle. The room was super comfortable and easy to relax in, the washer/dryer situation was not ideal, but at least closer than in the Akita hotel. I think the machines were 30 years old and it did, once again, take about 3 rounds of 30 minutes to dry our 2 days worth of clothing. But by now I learned it was what it was and at least had enough coins for it to not be too much of a hastle.

2-3 hours later, after a little organizing and planning, we headed out to what we thought would be the Soba shop the owner of Storytime Cafe recommended. Unfortunately they were closed for some reason (timing, day?), so we walked a little aimlessly trying to find dinner as the sun set. Stumbled into a Parco ("normal") mall thinking they would have a food court... they did not. After about 45 minutes of walk both the streets and the mall we happened across an Italian Steakhouse with a Japanese fusion menu... they is the best way I could describe it. Fully bilingual menus and staff were enough for us and so they were able to get "steaks" (maybe sirloin? nothing fancy) and I got a spaghetti/hamburg fusion dish. It was interesting and tasty, but nothing to "write home" about. I was glad we got a full meal in without hassle though.

As everything is built around the castle, I believe we ended up not 3-4 blocks away from it, so the walk over to see it illuminated was quick. It was so much worth it, a little bit more people than we had thought were out there (most were obviously tourists), though we did have fun taking pictures of a swan that obviously thought it was all his domain. It was a very nice night and the illumination were so pretty, one of my favorite times/spots of the whole vacation. The last part of the night was the construction going on just outside the castle that we aptly named the "giraffe rave". Out of all our travels, never have I seen a construction zone in or outside of Japan exactly like this. We do have video I'll have to see if I can upload somewhere later, a photo just does not do it justice!

After a lot of laughs and a slow stroll back to the hotel, it was time for another dunk in an onsen and sleep.